U.S. patent application number 14/083905 was filed with the patent office on 2014-05-22 for parking guidance system and method based on vehicle human occupancy.
This patent application is currently assigned to Xerox Corporation. The applicant listed for this patent is Xerox Corporation. Invention is credited to Steve Beer, Robert De Beukelaer, Martin Edward Hoover, Peter Paul.
Application Number | 20140139359 14/083905 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 50727422 |
Filed Date | 2014-05-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140139359 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Paul; Peter ; et
al. |
May 22, 2014 |
PARKING GUIDANCE SYSTEM AND METHOD BASED ON VEHICLE HUMAN
OCCUPANCY
Abstract
A system and methods that account for vehicle human occupancy in
parking management systems. Human throughput to an event is
optimized by utilizing a smart parking guidance system based on the
human occupancy of the vehicles to be parked.
Inventors: |
Paul; Peter; (Penfield,
NY) ; De Beukelaer; Robert; (Leidschendam-Voorburg,
NL) ; Beer; Steve; (Leicestershire, GB) ;
Hoover; Martin Edward; (Rochester, NY) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Xerox Corporation |
Norwalk |
CT |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Xerox Corporation
Norwalk
CT
|
Family ID: |
50727422 |
Appl. No.: |
14/083905 |
Filed: |
November 19, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61727884 |
Nov 19, 2012 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
340/932.2 ;
701/400; 705/13 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G01C 21/3685 20130101;
G08G 1/141 20130101; G06Q 30/0284 20130101; G08G 1/148 20130101;
G08G 1/146 20130101; G01C 21/34 20130101; G08G 1/144 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
340/932.2 ;
705/13; 701/400 |
International
Class: |
G08G 1/14 20060101
G08G001/14; G01C 21/34 20060101 G01C021/34; G06Q 30/02 20060101
G06Q030/02 |
Claims
1. A method comprising: determining the number of people in a
vehicle; and routing the vehicle to a specific location based at
least in part on the number of people determined to be in the
vehicle; wherein the determining the number of people in the
vehicle includes at least one of receiving an input value
corresponding to a declared number of people in the vehicle,
automatically determining the number of people in the vehicle based
on a number of unique identifiers within the vehicle, or
automatically detecting occupants within the vehicle with
sensors.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying the number
of people in the vehicle.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising assessing a fee to an
account associated with the vehicle based at least in part on the
number of people determined to be in the vehicle.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising comparing the number
of people determined to be in the vehicle to the number of people
verified to be in the vehicle and adjusting the fee if the
difference is greater than zero.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining includes using at
least one of an electronic device of the vehicle or a personal
mobile communication device.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein routing includes routing the
vehicle to an unoccupied parking space.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the routing the vehicle to a
specific location includes routing the vehicle to a parking
location, and wherein said routing is based at least in part on
attributes of the parking location.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the routing the vehicle to a
parking location includes accessing a parking space desirability
index determined using at least in part a location of at least one
event seat of a vehicle occupant as per a seat number indicated on
a ticket.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes of the parking
location include at least one of location, distance from a venue,
size, ease of entry, or ease of departure.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the number of
people in a vehicle is performed on a plurality of vehicles in
real-time, and the routing the vehicle to a specific location based
at least in part on the number of people determined to be in the
vehicle further includes routing the vehicle to a specific location
based at least in part on information about other vehicles of the
plurality of vehicles.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the information about other
vehicles includes at least one of a number of vehicle occupants or
size of a vehicle.
12. A system comprising: a guidance engine; and at least one
occupancy determiner associated with a vehicle, the determiner in
communication with the guidance engine; wherein the guidance engine
is configured to receive data from the occupancy determiner
relating to the number of people in the vehicle, and generate route
guidance for directing the vehicle to a specific location based at
least in part on the number of people in the vehicle.
13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a financial
transaction processing unit in communication with the guidance
engine, wherein the guidance system is configured to assess a fee
to an account associated with the vehicle.
14. The system of claim 13, further comprising an occupancy
verifier for verifying the number of people in the vehicle.
15. The system of claim 14 wherein the occupancy verifier includes
a vehicle scanner configured to detect occupants of the
vehicle.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the financial transaction
processing unit is further configured to compare a number of people
determined to be in the vehicle by the occupancy determiner to the
number of people verified to be in the vehicle by the occupancy
verifier, and adjust the fee if the difference is greater than
zero
17. A method comprising: receiving occupancy information from a
plurality of vehicles; matching each vehicle with a parking space
based at least in part on the occupancy information associated with
each vehicle; transmitting information regarding the matched
parking spaces to the vehicles; and verifying the occupancy
information of each vehicle.
18. The method of claim 17, or any other claim, wherein the
receiving, matching, transmitting and verifying are performed by
one or more electronic devices.
19. The method of claim 17, further comprising verifying the
occupancy information through telepresence.
20. The method of claim 17, wherein the matching each vehicle with
a parking space includes accessing a parking space desirability
index determined using at least in part a location of at least one
seat of a vehicle occupant as per the seat number indicated on a
ticket.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS AND APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to and the benefit of the
filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.
61/727,884, filed Nov. 19, 2012, which application is hereby
incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Reducing time wasted when traveling to a destination is one
of the main goals of Intelligent Transportation Systems. Many
studies have been performed that attempt to quantify time wasted in
traffic congestion. These studies show that the time wasted and the
equivalent lost productivity, lost business, and lost tax revenue
is significant. Further, traffic congestion leads to wasted fuel
and increased emission of greenhouse gases. Traffic planners and
transportation agencies seek methods that reduce traffic
congestion. One concept that is used in highway traffic management
is to incent people to "car pool", or "ride share" so that the
number of people per vehicle on average is increased. Thus, this
enables increased human throughput through the highway system,
while maintaining the same vehicle throughput through the system
and the same vehicle capacity of the roadway system. Human
throughput is increased without building out new roadway capacity.
The incentive can be in the form of a special travel lane that only
multi-occupant vehicles can use--this is often in the form of a
special limited access "express lane" where, because only certain
vehicles can use it, it tends to have much better traffic flow.
Other incentives are monetary in the form of a reduced tolling fee
for multi-occupant vehicles.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
[0003] The present disclosure sets forth systems and methods that
take into consideration vehicle human occupancy in parking
management systems. The systems and methods described herein
maximize human throughput to an event (or location) by utilizing a
smart parking guidance system based on the human occupancy of the
vehicles to be parked.
[0004] In accordance with one aspect, a method comprises
determining the number of people in a vehicle and routing the
vehicle to a specific location based at least in part on the number
of people determined to be in the vehicle. The determining the
number of people in the vehicle can include at least one of
receiving an input value corresponding to the total number of
people in the vehicle, automatically determining the number of
people in the vehicle based on a number of unique identifiers
within the vehicle, or automatically detecting occupants within the
vehicle with sensors. The method can include verifying the number
of people in the vehicle and/or assessing a fee to an account
associated with the vehicle based at least in part on the number of
people determined to be in the vehicle. The method can also include
comparing the number of people determined to be in the vehicle to
the number of people verified to be in the vehicle and adjusting
the fee if the difference is greater than zero.
[0005] The determining can include using at least one of an
electronic device of the vehicle or a personal mobile communication
device. The routing the vehicle to a location can include routing
the vehicle to an unoccupied parking space. The routing the vehicle
to a location can include routing the vehicle to a parking
location, said routing based at least in part on attributes of the
parking location. The attributes of the parking location can
include at least one of location, distance from a venue, size, ease
of entry, ease of departure, etc.
[0006] In accordance with another aspect, a system comprises a
guidance engine and at least one occupancy determiner associated
with a vehicle, the determiner in communication with the guidance
engine. The guidance engine is configured to receive data from the
occupancy determiner relating to the number of people in the
vehicle, and generate route guidance for directing the vehicle to a
specific location based at least in part on the number of people in
the vehicle. The system can further include an occupancy verifier
for verifying the number of people in the vehicle. The occupancy
verifier can include a vehicle scanner configured to detect
occupants of the vehicle. The system can also include a financial
transaction processing unit in communication with the guidance
engine, wherein the guidance system is configured to assess a fee
to an account associated with the vehicle.
[0007] In accordance with another aspect, a method comprises
receiving occupancy information from a plurality of vehicles,
matching each vehicle with a parking space based at least in part
on the occupancy information associated with each vehicle,
transmitting information regarding the matched parking spaces to
the vehicles, and verifying the occupancy information of each
vehicle. The receiving, matching, transmitting and verifying can be
performed by one or more electronic devices.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is block diagram of an exemplary system in accordance
with the disclosure; and
[0009] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method in
accordance with the disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0010] The systems and methods described herein maximize human
throughput to an event by utilizing a smart parking guidance system
based on the human occupancy of the vehicles to be parked. For
example, consider an event held at a venue such as a stadium which
has several parking lots associated with the venue where each
parking lot is at various distances away from the venue. The
patrons to the event are arriving by passenger car from various
source locations at various times. The parking guidance system
determines which destination parking lot each vehicle should park
at based on current traffic conditions and parking lot space
availability. Once the destination parking lot is determined for a
vehicle, a satellite navigation system can guide the vehicle in
getting to the destination parking lot using familiar
"turn-by-turn" navigation. The destination parking lot and the
route travelled may dynamically be adjusted based on real-time
traffic conditions and real-time parking lot space availability. In
accordance with the present disclosure, the step of determining
which parking lot each vehicle is guided to can also be based on
the number of human occupants in the vehicle.
[0011] FIG. 1 depicts one exemplary embodiment of a parking
guidance system 10 in accordance with the present disclosure. The
system 10 is comprised of vehicles V1, V2, and V3, parking lots L1
and L2, a mobile network 16, a data center 20, and a financial
transaction processing system 24. The vehicles V1, V2 and V3 each
contain a mobile networking device 30 to communicate to the mobile
network 16, the parking lots L1 and L2, and the back end data
center 20 through known protocols and communications systems. The
mobile networking devices 30 may also have a user interface and be
attached to a satellite navigation system. The satellite navigation
system receives data from orbiting satellites to determine the real
time position of the vehicle. The direction of travel and position
along a mapped roadway system is also determined by the navigation
system. The satellite navigation system may also receive real time
traffic information through the mobile network or through another
communication method such as through an FM radio broadcast.
[0012] Each vehicle V1, V2 and V3 also contains an occupancy
determiner unit 34. The occupancy determiner unit 34 may be a
sensor which determines the human occupancy in the vehicle such as
a camera or ultrasonic sensor. In one embodiment, the occupancy
determiner unit may interface to the vehicle's sensors to determine
the human occupancy using human occupancy sensors within the
vehicle used to indicate seat belt warnings and to determine air
bag pressure levels. In some embodiments of this invention the
occupancy determiner unit may not be used and the user interface is
used by the driver or other occupant to indicate the human
occupancy of the vehicle by typing in the appropriate number of
people or selecting a graphical user interface widget to indicate
the number of human occupants. Each occupant may have a unique code
which they key into the user interface. In another embodiment each
occupant may type in an event ticket number or other unique code
for the ticket to the event. The event ticket may also be scanned
by a barcode scanner or a camera attached to the occupancy
determiner unit or the mobile device in order to count the number
of people in the vehicle by counting the number of valid tickets
entered into the system. In another embodiment, the mobile device
within the vehicle may facilitate the purchase of tickets to the
event, and thus automatically entering the ticket number of the
purchased ticket as belonging to a vehicle occupant. The mobile
network device user interface can also be used to display parking
pricing for various parking lots and can be used to reserve a
parking space within a parking lot. The pre-payment for the parking
lot and the reservation of the parking lot space is handled through
communications with the back end data center through the mobile
network.
[0013] The parking lots L1 and L2 contain, or are otherwise
outfitted with, a network interface device 38 for communicating to
the mobile devices 30 and the back end data center 20 through the
mobile network 16. The parking lots L1 and L2 also include a
vehicle occupancy verifier unit 42 which may be a camera and
illuminator based system using automatic human detection and
counting, or using remote human detection and counting using
telepresence where vehicle imagery is sent to a remote station
where parking lot attendants review the imagery to verify the human
count as declared by the vehicle prior to the assignment of the
vehicle to the parking lot.
[0014] In addition or in the alternative, mobile attendants can use
devices which query the mobile network device or other interface
into the vehicle, such as dedicated short range communications
(DSRC), WiFi, or Bluetooth to determine the human occupancy count
as declared by the vehicle's driver before being guided to the
parking lot and compare this value to the human occupancy count
visually observed. If the declared count does not match the actual
count (e.g., the actual count may typically be lower than the
declared count), then a penalty is assessed through accessing the
patron's account on the data center through the parking lot's
network device communicating through the mobile network.
[0015] Note that the parking lot's network device can communicate
with the vehicle's mobile network device through the mobile
network, or other communication means, to access the patron's
account identifier. The parking lot attendant can also access the
patron's account identifier by communicating with the vehicle's
mobile device through the use of a handheld device or the like. In
another embodiment, a camera and automatic license plate
recognition technology can also be used by the parking lot to
access the patron's account identifier in order to assess any
additional penalty or fee if the actual human occupancy count
differs from the occupancy count declared when reserving space
within the parking lot. In yet another embodiment, the vehicle may
be turned away from a parking lot (or previously assigned space
within a lot) and re-routed to another parking lot (or different
space within the same lot or a different lot) if the actual human
occupancy of the vehicle differs from the declared human occupancy
of the vehicle when the parking reservation was determined.
[0016] The data center 20 contains the parking guidance engine 50
that, for example, determines the assignments for the vehicles to
parking lots, determines pricing of parking lots, presents the
pricing to the vehicle's driver through the vehicle's mobile
network device user interface through the mobile network, etc. The
data center 20 also contains the user account management system 54
including the account balance, recent transactions, and a web and
email interface into the user accounts. The data center 20 also
contains an interface 58 for connecting via network 62 to the
financial transaction processing system 24 which interfaces to
banks and credit card processing in order to make payments and
credits to the account.
[0017] The system described above includes a parking management
system that has "Occupancy Determiner" units on the vehicles,
"Occupancy Verifier" units in the parking lots, and a "Parking
Guidance Engine" which executes a parking guidance and fee
generation algorithm based at least in part on vehicle human
occupancy data from the "Occupancy Determiner" units and the
"Occupancy Verifier" units. It will be appreciated that certain
aspects of this disclosure can be implemented via existing devices
within vehicles such as GPS/Navigation units as well as personal
cell phones (e.g., smartphones) or other similar devices.
[0018] One exemplary embodiment of the parking guidance and fee
generation method 80 (algorithm) is depicted in FIG. 2. The
algorithm is described with respect to one vehicle. The algorithm
is performed for each vehicle that has indicated its destination to
be the event venue.
[0019] The method begins with process step 82 where the number of
people in the vehicle is determined. As noted above, this can be
performed through an indication to the driver or other vehicle
occupant to input the number of occupants in the vehicle through a
user interface to an on board unit that has a mobile network
interface. Thus, a simple approach is for the driver to indicate
how many people are in the vehicle. In other embodiments, the
number of people in the vehicle is determined using sensors within
the vehicle such as seat belt warning sensors or air bag sensors,
or the number of people is determined by scanning event tickets
that vehicle occupants possess or interfacing with electronic
tickets that the occupants can access. In another embodiment, the
occupants may be asked to type in a unique code such as a code that
was given out during the purchase of the ticket to the event. Other
methods of determining vehicle occupancy are also possible.
[0020] In process step 84, the system queries each parking lot to
determine the current space availability taking into account those
vehicles which may be assigned to the parking lot that are on route
to each parking lot.
[0021] In process step 86, vehicles are assigned to parking spaces
based on the number of people in each vehicle and the availability
of parking spaces. In one exemplary embodiment, this can be done in
five steps 86(a)-86(f) as follows: [0022] Step 86(a): First, the
number of vehicles of different occupancy levels expected for the
event is determined. The number of vehicles with various occupancy
levels can be estimated using historical data as to the
distribution of vehicle human occupancy levels for traffic
travelling to events. For example, a table may be used to depict
the historical vehicle human occupancy as follows:
TABLE-US-00001 [0022] Configuration Human Occupancy Percentage
Driver Only 1 10% Driver & 1 Passenger 2 20% Driver & 2
Passengers 3 20% Driver & 3 Passengers 4 20% Driver & 4
Passengers 5 10% Driver & 5 Passengers 6 10% Driver & 6
Passengers 7 5% Driver & 7 or more Passengers 8+ 5%
After each event this table may be updated using the actual
measured vehicle human occupancy for the traffic to the event.
[0023] Step 86(b): Equations 1 through 3 are then used to determine
the expected number of vehicles with different occupancy
levels.
[0023] .mu. O = i i .times. p i = 1 .times. p 1 + 2 .times. p 2 + 3
.times. p 3 + + 8 .times. p 8 ( 1 ) T V = T A .mu. O ( 2 ) N i = p
i T V ( 3 ) ##EQU00001##
Where i represents the various vehicle occupancy levels (1 through
8 in the example in the table, above), p.sub.i is the percentage of
vehicles at the i occupancy level (the third column in the example
in the table, above), .mu..sub.o is the average vehicle human
occupancy based on the historical distribution data for traffic to
an event, T.sub.v is the total number of vehicles expected, T.sub.A
is the total human attendance of the event, and N.sub.i is the
number of vehicles expected at occupancy level i. [0024] Step
86(c): Rank the available parking spaces based on a desirability
metric such as closeness to the actual event venue. [0025] Step
86(d) Reserve the best (based on the desirability metric)
N.sub.imax parking spaces for vehicles with imax occupants, the
next N.sub.imax-1 spaces for vehicles with imax-1 occupants, etc. .
. . where imax is the maximum number of vehicle human occupants to
be considered in the parking space allocation system. In the
example in the table above, the system would reserve the first
N.sub.8 most desirable spaces for vehicles with 8 occupants, the
next N.sub.7 most desirable spaces for vehicles with 7 occupants,
etc. . . . . [0026] Step 86(f) Assign a vehicle to the most
desirable parking space that is available that has been reserved
for the number of occupants in that vehicle.
[0027] Note that in a simple modification of this process, the
value T.sub.A, the total human attendance of the event, can be
replaced dynamically as vehicles are being assigned parking spaces
in real time by T.sub.R=T.sub.A-T.sub.P, where T.sub.P is the total
people in vehicles that have been already assigned a parking space
and T.sub.R is the total people still remaining in vehicles to be
parked. Note also, that the value of T.sub.R can also take into
account people to arrive at the event venue through means other
than through vehicles that are to be parked, for example, by public
transportation or by walking to the event. This takes in to account
the actual vehicle human occupancy distribution being different
from the expected distribution.
[0028] Thus by using this procedure a vehicle with two occupants,
for example, may be assigned to a parking space in a location
further away from the venue while spaces remain open closer to the
venue that are reserved for 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 occupant vehicles
that are expected to arrive later.
[0029] In another embodiment, the time to the start of the event is
also taken into account in the vehicle parking assignment. One
simple way is to use the procedure outlined above to assign the
parking spaces for up to 30 minutes before the event start, then to
assign the best available parking spot to vehicles that are routed
30 minutes or less from the event start. This way desirable parking
spaces close to the venue are not wasted due to the expected
distribution not matching the actual distribution.
[0030] In another embodiment, the assignment is performed by
offering the parking spaces to the vehicle drivers at different
prices, where more desirable parking spaces are offered at higher
prices subject reducing the prices based on higher vehicle human
occupancy.
[0031] Returning to FIG. 2, in process step 88 the vehicles are
routed to their parking lots and spaces using standard satellite
navigation systems and/or cellular data networks. In process step
90, once the vehicle arrives at the assigned parking lot, the
vehicle human occupancy is verified. This verification can be in
the form of an automated vehicle human occupancy detection system
based on cameras and automated human detection image processing
technology. In another embodiment, a human attendant visually
verifies the human occupancy of the vehicle.
[0032] In process step 92 the vehicle human occupancy declared at
the time of assignment of the vehicle to the parking space is
recalled by identifying the vehicle and querying the declared
occupancy in a data record. The identification can be performed by
querying a mobile communications device within the vehicle. In
another embodiment the identification can be performed by
performing automatic license plate recognition and using the
license plate as a vehicle identifier. Once the vehicle identifier
is known, then the declared occupancy can be recalled. The vehicle
human occupancy declared at the time of parking space assignment is
compared to the actual vehicle human occupancy determined in step
82.
[0033] If the actual vehicle human occupancy is less than the
vehicle human occupancy declared at the time the parking space was
assigned, then a penalty can be assessed in process step 94. The
penalty may be an increased fee for parking or it may be a
reassignment of the vehicle to a different parking space.
Otherwise, in process step 96 and 98 the account identifier is
determined and the parking fee (including any penalty) is charged
to the account.
[0034] It will be appreciated that variations on the basic
algorithm described above are possible. For example, in one
embodiment the size of a given vehicle as it takes up space in the
parking lot and/or on the roadway can be used in the parking space
assignment algorithm. Vehicle information can be provided by the
driver and specification information can be referenced from a
database on the internet, for example. In another embodiment, the
algorithm may use the metric of humans per sq ft in the vehicle
instead of vehicle human occupancy. The vehicle human density is
simply the vehicle human occupancy number divided by the
"footprint" of the vehicle in terms of its square footage. In other
embodiments, the desirability of the parking lot spaces may be
customized to each vehicle based on, for example, i) people going
to different events that share the same parking lots so they can
share the same vehicle going to that parking lot, ii) by using
distance to actual venue entrances and event seat in determining
the parking space desirability, iii) parking space availability is
affected by people attending different events at different times
sharing the same parking lots coming and going.
[0035] It will be appreciated that variants of the above-disclosed
and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be
combined into many other different systems or applications. Various
presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications,
variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by
those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed
by the following claims.
* * * * *